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Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Egyptians Demand France Remove "Shameful Statue" Of Champollion

And more outrage from the perpetually offended.

Egyptian archeologists have condemned the Paris statue of Jean François Champollion, the French archaeologist who deciphered hieroglyphics, as “derogatory” and “shameful.”The reason is that Champollion appears on the statue standing with his left foot on a Pharaonic head.

The statue was carved in 1875 by Frédéric-Auguste Bartholdi and is located in the main courtyard of the Collège de France.Al Ahram Online reported on Tuesday that Egyptian archaeologists have condemned the statue as “derogatory toward Egyptian Civilization,” in a letter sent to the Egyptian foreign and antiquities ministries. The archaeologists also urged the French government to remove the “shameful statue.”

Not only do they want the statue removed, they want an official apology to the people of Egypt for offending their easily offended sensibilities. Omar al-Hadary of the Tourism and Antiquities Committee of the Revolutionary Youth Federation also wants a ban on:

...all French archeological missions until the statue is removed and the French government Issue an apology to Egyptians, according to Al Ahram Online.

He also said:

“This will make us hate the West more,” he said. “The French learned a hard lesson during their campaign that Egypt gained independence with the blood and lives of its sons.”

“The French government must remove this shameful statue or we will make thousands of insulting statues to put in all squares of Egypt and outside the French Embassy."

The difference between the French and the Egyptians is that the French wouldn't care how many thousands of insulting statutes they built in Egypt, and they certainly wouldn't demand they be removed.